3-2

Who has 2 thumbs, is awesome and has a birthday today?
This guy.

Who makes me laugh every day, is my favorite person and works so hard to make sure life is good?
This guy.

Who is the best dad to my children, loves them with all his heart, and is loved beyond measure?
This guy.

Who gets better with age, is super hot, and always knows how to put a smile on my face?
This guy.

He really is incredible and wonderful and super funny- I'm not just saying that.  I don't think that there is a single person on this earth that has met him and hasn't liked him.  He is just that genuine and nice and funny and kind.  He teaches me how to be better.  He makes our lives awesome and he loves us lots (I can just tell).  I don't think there is a way, through the internet, to convey just how awesome he is.  You will just have to come and see him in action.  I am glad for every day that I get to spend with him and am grateful that we will have eternity together.  I look forward to the unlimited amount of time ahead of us.  I admire the man that he is and the father that he is.  He is constantly teaching me lessons of kindness, and service, and generosity through his example.  He makes me feel good about myself and he is very selfless.  This man loves adventure and together we have had many, and I can't wait to have more.  I live for adventure AND this guy.  I love this man.  Happy birthday Mr. Snelldog...  if you couldn't tell- you are loved.

And just because I am sure you were wondering-  Who is super corny, super dorky and likes to use the word awesome a lot to describe her husband?
This girl.

And I meant every word.

Shoes and Ants.

We had an infestation.
One that only lasted a couple of hours but the emotional repercussions of which I will be dealing with for a life time.
Carpenter ants.
At least shoe+carpenter ant+quick feet= death.
I killed a lot of very large ants that day.  I'm not proud of it.  But, lets face it, it was either me or the ants.  I was acting out of self defense and the defense of my children.
There was a point a midst all of my killing that I was feeling sorry for the ants.  Especially when I saw one carrying one of its kindred dead back to his home.  Then Justin made me feel better when he pointed out that it was just going to eat the other one.  I don't know if they are cannibalistic or not but I'll believe him.
I couldn't let the ants overtake these sweet faces.

I was sure glad when my knight in shining armor came to save the day.
What would I do with out this man?

Probably get eaten by ants.

He has the ability to act with a level head even when death by ant bites looms in the background.
He had patience and followed their patterns and found their entry point.  Which he quickly filled with ant poison and expandable foam.
My Hero.
We have not had a single ant since and life is good.
Also we found the lost shoe.
The one we were sure Noni threw in the garbage.
That poor guy always getting blamed for things that go missing.
Turns out it was under my sewing desk this whole time?
Who knew?
Probably the ants....
Now Justin has 2 sets of almost identical brown shoes.  That can never be a bad thing.
Sadly I still have to deal with the Mud Daubers (those things really seem to like me, if you remember they were plaguing me in Waterloo too.) and the lady bugs.  Oh the lady bugs- they seem fine in small numbers but get large quantities and their cuteness ends.  Carpenter ants are the least of my worries right now....

{I was recently reminded of the time I saved all the children from a spider- you should read about that time too- it was awesome.}

BOOKS

We love our library.
You can go there and get as many books and movies as you want- for FREE.
Who knew?
They even have great programs for kids.
It is wonderful.
And we love it.
We head to the library once a week to take Ruby to a reading club and to fill up our never ending need for knowledge.  haha.  No, really.
We come home with so many books each week in anticipation of finding THE BEST BOOK.
Some weeks are better than others.  But most times there is at least one book that we love and read countless times until it needs to be returned or we need to renew it.
Pinkalicious is the book of the week.  (Or 3 weeks- as it has been so far)
Myers is especially in love with it.  He knows the words and and loves when we get to the page with all the pink food so he can say- 'No pink jello'.  He loves it.
Ruby has always loved books and has an incredible memory.  Her first book to commit to memory was Horton Hatches the Egg.  She has had that book memorised for many years- seriously.  Child prodigy like.
We love that book in our house.
Justin is always listening to some sort of book- usually by Orson Scott Card.  He really doesn't have much time to actually read- so listening is a great alternative.  It is also great for us when we are travelling.  I love sharing a good book with him.  When we had more 'just us' time we would read to each other- the Harry Potter series was our favorite.  Now we just listen together when we can.
Right now we are listening to Divergent.  Yet another teen book series.  But I love it so far.  It is awesome.    Justin is enjoying it too- though maybe not as much as me.
And dare I leave out Hunger Games?  I am so looking forward to the movie- and the best part?  We can see it here for a wopping $2.75!!  It is going to be legendary!!!
The other thing I like about our library (and others I am sure) is that it is stocked with lots of amazing craft books that I would never buy but definitely want to look through.
My favorite one right now you ask?
Made To Play by Joel Henriques.

Have you heard of this guy?  He is awesome.  And this book- even better than I could have imagined.  I would make EVERYTHING that is in it- and that is a rare find in a craft book.  It is full of really neat homemade toys for your kids.  I love it.  This is one book I would definitely like to own...  but until then I will just keep renewing it from the library...

And while talking about books I could not leave out the Book of Mormon.  We have been making a real concerted effort to read this book every day as a family.  It has been great- and Ruby is constantly reminding us to read it- she is wonderful.

I love books, I love learning, I love reading, I love using my brain and especially my imagination.  Books are important.

We are always looking for recommendations of good books to read.  Got any?

Princess Ruby and Her Knight in Shining Armor

Princess Ruby and her knight in shining armor headed off to the princess ball (put on by the Youngstown Stake - every girl 18mths- 18yrs was invited) earlier this month and loved every second of it.

Ruby requested a new dress- so I had to comply of course.  She loved it.  She also loved spending time just her and her daddy.  Justin made sure he came home with flowers for her princess and he donned his matching tie for the event.  Here they are before they left.  I'll be darned if I could get Ruby to have a real smile in any photo.  

Myers and I weren't invited- so we stayed home and ate icecream and watched UP.  We had a good memorable night too.

Here the girls are waiting for their names to be announced so they can walk down the red carpet (Ruby is on the far left)...

Dancing the night away!

Stopping for a little refreshment...  Being a princess is hard work.

There is all the dancing, and eating and curtsying, and of course keeping up your appearance.  She insisted on wearing these gloves and did not take them off the whole night!

I wasn't there but from what I heard it was a great night- the girls learned how to be princesses and the dad's learned about how to treat their princesses correctly.  Then they spent the rest of the night dancing and eating.  It sounds like a blast and it is just nice to see daughters hanging out with their dads and having a good time building memories.  I am all about the memories...  And, if I do say so myself- that dress is the perfect princess dress... I mean seriously- who made that? 

Ruby's First Haircut

At four and a half years old Ruby finally received her first hair cut.  

The Befores

Yes- her first.  I have never even cut her bangs.  Her hair was cute- but it was getting so 'snarly' and unmanageable so I decided that we would have a girls day go get her hair done.  We went to a special place designed especially for kids.  It smelled distinctly of maple syrup- in fact it kind of made me sick.  But Ruby and the 50 other kids in there didn't seem to mind.  Ruby decided to sit on the elephant, was adorned with the hannah montana bib and was forced to watch Toy Story 3.  She didn't seem to mind.  She sat so still and looked so cute!

The Durings.

The After.  Isn't she adorable?  I love that girl.  After the hair cut she asked me how it felt for me to have my first hair cut.  I thought she was feeling sad about the loss of her hair so I went for the 'deeper' feelings and had a long story about how it felt so great to have all the snarlies gone and how it felt fresh and wonderful.  I then asked her how hers felt and she said 'wet.'  

We did a little bit of girls shopping, went out for Italian, and finished with some Frozen Yogurt.  Delicious.  Ruby loved the Strawberry lemonade sorbet,  I loved the vanilla froyo with fresh raspberries.  Delicious.

She could not get over how cute the spoon was- she just loved it so much.  

We had fun- it was really nice to do something just one on one.  Ruby loved it- though she did miss Noni and daddy, especially when we were at the yogurt shop- she knew that daddy and Noni would love it there.  We are headed back soon....  short hair and all.

Noni's New Uniform

This is how you will find Myers these days.

Well- the fake mustache tattoo is optional... (but I think it looks awesome- don't tell him this when he is older and can grow a real mustache- I don't think those are awesome.)  He has decided that he likes to play in his diaper.  I have decided that this is not ideal.  Hence the onesie and overalls.  It seems to keep him out, for now.  Hopefully he will be able to go back to regular clothes soon- we are working on potty training and with any luck it will happen soon.  That would be a small miracle.  A wonderful small miracle.  Here's hoping....  At least he makes a great fashion statement, and who can deny the cuteness factor?

And The Grand Finale

My littlest sister got married!

It was a great day and I was glad to be a part of it.
There is something about working hard together as a family that just helps to bond you and make you stronger.
It was a lot of work but it all went well and we are glad to call Cody a brother now.
Whit was the last of us.  And she definitely went out with a bang.
Her dress was beautiful and she was beautiful and the day was great.
She asked me a few months before she was married if I would make her cake toppers for her.  I said yes and then put it out of my mind until after Christmas.  We headed home for her wedding and I had my clay in hand ready to make her toppers when we got there.
Little did I realize that they would take me a total of about 24 hours to complete.  The bride was the longest.  I was being a little bit of a perfectionist if I do say so myself- and they still didn't turn out perfect, but I am happy with them.  The groom did have a little bit of a mishap while he was cooking in the oven and ended up with a little bit of smooshed face, some flat shoes and a missing hand.  Nothing too terrible but it did happen less that 24 hours before the wedding so I had no time to re-do him.  In the dim lighting you couldn't even tell that his forehead was flat or that his hand was glued on... right?

It was a definite learning experience but I am happy to say that I am not completely turned off of clay sculpting (if you will) it is definitely something I enjoy.

The wedding and reception were fun and we had a great time seeing people we haven't seen in a LONG time! It was definitely a great ego boost- we felt very loved and missed.

To Whitney,
  I want to say that you really were an incredibly beautiful bride.  I am so proud of you and Cody and your dedication to the gospel.  I am grateful that you were married in the temple and that you made that goal and stuck to it.  I am grateful for who you are.  I love your spunk and your dedication to sticking up for the under dog.  I recently heard the best story ever from mom about you standing up to a bully that was being mean to Randi and it just made me love you more.  I love that you love your family.  I love that you have Cody and that he is part of our family now.  I can't wait to see the new dynamic that he brings and I can't wait for the good times to come.  I love you Whit, I love who you are and what you stand for.  I love getting your random texts.  I love knowing that you think about me.  I love knowing that if I need something asap that you are the one to text because you always have your phone and are willing to help.  I love your dimples and the way you put on make up.  You look so beautiful.  I love that you are shorter than me.  I love short Whitney jokes (though you may not) they always make me laugh.  Sometimes Justin and I make them even when you aren't around- so just know that we think of you a lot too.  I love that you have found a job that you are really good at and that you like.  I love that people who don't know me, but know you, know that we are sisters.  I think it is funny when people I know talk to you and think that it is me.  That always makes me laugh- though I don't know how they mix us up- I mean, I am 4 inches taller than you...  I am glad that we are bonded for eternity, that I know that we can be together as family forever.  I am glad that you know that too.  I love you Whit (and I love Cody too).  Congratulations.